Sharks open trip with win at St. Louis

Logan Couture and Mikkel Boedker each scored a goal and added an assist in San Jose’s three-goal second period Tuesday night as the visiting Sharks edged the St. Louis Blues 3-2 at Scottrade Center.

Joonas Donskoi snapped a 1-1 tie in the middle of the second period, and Boedker scored less than four minutes later as San Jose started a critical four-game road trip through the Central Division with its third straight win. The Sharks are in second place in the Pacific Division with 74 points.

Ivan Barbashev and Vladimir Tarasenko scored second-period goals for St. Louis, which dropped its fourth straight game and remains tied for third in the Central Division with the Dallas Stars at 72 points.

After a scoreless first period in which the Sharks possessed a slight territorial advantage, reflected by a 12-8 advantage in shots on goal, Couture broke the scoring seal at 6:35 of the second period. Couture pounced on the rebound of Boedker’s shot and lifted it over prone goalie Carter Hutton for his 24th marker.

Barbashev equalized less than two minutes later with his fourth goal of the season. Kyle Brodziak sent him into the zone with a cross-ice pass to the right wing, and the left-handed-shooting Barbashev wired a wrister past goalie Martin Jones’ glove.

That momentum lasted less than four minutes. Donskoi potted his 11th goal at 12:05 thanks in part to a sweet cross-ice feed from Couture. From the left circle, Donskoi slotted a wrister past Hutton to give San Jose the lead for good.

Boedker made it 3-1 at 15:54 with his 12th marker of the season. It was the result of a pretty rush started by Jannik Hansen. The right winger fed Chris Tierney, who went behind the net and slipped a backhand pass to a driving Boedker at the left post.

Tarasenko brought the Blues back within a goal at 19:36 with his 24th of the season, 10 seconds after Brent Burns took a minor for tripping. Vince Dunn’s shot from the slot was saved by Jones, but Tarasenko collected the rebound and buried it.

Jones made 13 of his 31 saves in the third period. Hutton stopped 20 shots in a losing cause.